The game was first revealed in the September 2007 issue of Game Informer magazine, and was first released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America on October 20, 2009, in PAL countries on October 23, 2009, and in Japan on February 10, 2010. It was subsequently released on Windows (in North America on October 26, 2009, and PAL territories on October 29, 2009), and Mac OS X (on December 3, 2010). The Mac OS X version was published by Feral Interactive.The sequel, Borderlands 2, is currently in development and is slated for release in North America on September 18, 2012.

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The presence of similar alien ruins to those found in an alien vault on the nearby planet of Prometheus spur the Dahl Corporation to search for a possible vault on Pandora. The search is headed by a respected xeno-archeologist, Tannis. However, the search ultimately turns out to be fruitless, and the massive industrial mining operations soon deplete the bulk of the mineral deposits that exist on the planet.

The companies mining the planet decide to up-sticks and leave, having harvested the bulk of the Planet's valuable resources. In the process of leaving they leave behind many of the settlers who are too poor to buy their way off the planet, and release those who were being held in prison labor camps. The population is thus left to scavenge for a living in isolated settlements.

Soon after, the planet's slow orbit finally brings about a transition in the seasons, unleashing hordes of dangerous alien wildlife coming out of hibernation.

Despite the lack of evidence of its existence, legends persist of "The Vault", which is supposedly carved into the side of a mountain. Rumoured to be a treasure trove of alien artifacts and technology, it's also said that those who do discover it are killed by a protective force, leaving few clues as to its actual location. The only evidence of their discovery is a scattered radio transmission, proclaiming the Vault's majesty.

Borderlands commences some time after the Dahl Corporation's abandonment of the planet, and focuses on several fortune seekers (Mordecai, Roland, Lilith, and Brick), who comprise the game's playable cast. They're all drawn to the planet by rumours of the mythical Alien vault and the wealth it contains.

Borderlands' characters can be divided into several different groups. Here they've been divided into: 'Playable Character Classes', 'Non-Playable Characters' (excluding bosses), 'Main Bosses' (that is, boss characters that the player has to defeat in order to advance), 'Sub-Bosses' (optional, uniquely-named enemies), and finally more general 'Enemy Types'.